Hugging tight for comfort: Innovative design of sitting hug machine for the therapy of autism

Abstract

There is a global tendency of increasing patients of autism in recent years, which had attracted attentions worldwide. It not only put a heavier burden on more families but also raised teachers’ loading as well as the cost of healthcare and social farewell significantly. Although the symptoms of autism such as communication disorders, incapable of social interactions, as well as problematic behaviors and interests can obtain sound remedy effect through counseling strategy and drug therapy traditionally, the Squeeze Machine that developed from the theory of sensory integration therapy can have even more therapeutic effect for many patients. However, we found this existing machine to be too bulky and expensive and thus began an earlier research of innovative design to enhance its suitability for autistic pupils’ needs and make some other improvements; the name of its resulted prototype is the ‘Sitting Hug Machine’. The aim of this paper is to introduce this new design and to verify its enhancements and therapeutic effectiveness. Using the model of A-B-A-B Reversal Experimental Design of Single-Subject Experimental Design (SSED) with two junior high-school autistic pupils, the result had exhibited a satisfactory therapeutic capability, coupled with its improvements on reducing cost, size, and the required space; the conclusion is that this Sitting Hug Machine is recommendable to autistic pupils.